[sdiy] soldering bananas

[Buck Buchanan]

At 11:49 AM 4/9/03 +0200, Rude 66 wrote:

>working on my new synth, i came across this weird problem. i'm having a 
>hell of a time soldering my banana inputs. it just seems the solder won't 
>stick to it, sometimes i can pull the wire right off. i'vew used 
>differenmt types of solder, with and without s-39, cleaned the things with 
>96% proof alcohol first to remive any grease, etc.
>i'm a little baffled, i've soldered jacks and all kinds of other stuff for 
>20 plus years and have never had this happen. any ideas from you people 
>who work a lot with bananas?


I had the EXACT problems on a couple random batches of Pamona brand Banana 
jacks (which I'd always thought were the best).  Most wetted beautifully, 
but one batch in particular was hell.  I tried everything!

A miniature ("jewelers") triangle file is now always handy and takes 
plating off in moments once you've done a few.  On the Pamonas at least, 
it's copper down there, and with a little of the gooey brown flux, solder 
flows perfectly.  Once it's filed, I don't think the flux is really necessary.

Before assembling a module, I always hit each jack with the iron really 
quick to see which ones need filing.  On the Pamonas, it seems like solder 
flows perfectly, or not at all - with none in between.

Common Pamona, get on the quality control!  We shouldn't have to do this.

Good luck!

Buck